Stay
by AnakinAnnika
Summary: A short angst-romance oneshot fic loosely inspired by this artwork by Yuu Yano Art: p/2019/02/13/this-hurts-someone-right-a-fanfic/ all artwork rights belong to Yuu Yano Art. I couldn't resist writing a corresponding fic for it, especially because it was requested! Takes place after a particularly difficult akuma battle. Could be pre-reveal or post-reveal; it works with either.


"You're too badly hurt. Please stay the night. Please."

She fought to keep the tremble out of her voice, willed the tears to keep from falling. She took a steadying breath. _Ouch. Okay, no more deep breaths. _"No. I have to—"

"No, you don't!" His voice sounded tight, as if he too was in pain. But didn't he understand? It was her own fault that they were in this mess, and she had to make it right. She had to fix this, for everyone, and especially for him. His arms around her tightened, and she flinched. Seriously, how many cuts did she have by now? _Who knows. Hard to think. Just breathe. In, out. Must fix things._

"Yes I do. I need to fix this. They need me…" But he didn't seem to want to let go. The longer they stayed like this, the harder it was for her to hold to her resolve. She steeled herself. Once she got away from him, once she fixed all of this, then she could collapse and cry and feel the pain and hopefully get some help. But not now, dear God please not now. She couldn't let him see her like that. He needed to see her strength, her resolve. He always said he admired her strength and she couldn't let him down again, not now, when she'd already let him down so much that day. _You can do this,_ she told herself. Once again, she tried to release his hold on her. The cut on her shoulder began to bleed again, and she felt him shudder against her back.

"I promise you, they're safe, they're all safe. Trust me, please. You have to stay with me, please. We can fix this later, but nobody's in danger anymore. You're hurt and you're bleeding and I thought for a moment out there when I couldn't see you that—that—and if you leave now and something happens and I—" he shuddered, and with a shock, she realized his voice was tight, not from exhaustion, but from emotion. He was _crying,_ the warm tears dripping onto her neck and rolling down her shoulders and how could she possibly leave now? Something inside her broke, then, and she let her tears fall, too. Slowly, painfully, she turned around so she was facing him in his arms and buried her face into the crook of his neck. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her arms and abdomen, she wrapped her hands around his back and held onto him, their soft crying mingling together.

"I'm sorry," she said. _Sorry I made you cry, sorry for this mess we're in, sorry I let you down, sorry I was careless and got hurt._ He seemed to understand all of her unspoken thoughts and as he took a deep, shuddering, steadying breath, he looped one hand around her neck and began to gently stroke her hair.

"Just please don't scare me like that again… I can't lose you." She melted into his embrace completely, feeling broken and whole all at once. Through her shaky breaths, she felt him place the lightest and gentlest of kisses on her forehead, felt his warm breath on her cheeks. She tilted her head, and kissed his jaw. _He loves me,_ she realized, and she knew that it was true. He loved her, and he was worried about her. What was the point of trying to keep up the illusion of strength again? What was the point of pretending to be okay, when he could see right through her and see all the ways she was anything but okay and still loved her anyway? _And besides,_ she thought, _if he loves me and I love him back then I really don't need to keep up any kind of illusion in front of him anymore._

And of course she loved him too—loving him was the most natural thing in the world, and fighting it off for so long had only made it grow in strength. Being here, with him, it felt right, like coming home to a place she'd been missing her whole life and didn't realize until now. He was safe and warm and he _loved her_ and he felt like home and she could stay with him and he'd help her heal and—

Turning her head slightly, she looked up into his eyes. _Beautiful eyes, so full of love and adoration._ "I love you too."

And then, after a moment of shocked surprise, his expression turned to joy, and he kissed her, and her cuts still hurt but she didn't care and she was exhausted but he was _kissing her_ and in that moment, both of them felt assured that in the end, after a night of rest and tending to her wounds and then, easy and content sleep next to one another—in the end, everything would all be okay. They could fix this. Together.

Based on this artwork by Yuu Yano Art: /2019/02/13/this-hurts-someone-right-a-fanfic/ or /2019/02/13/this-hurts-someone-right-a-fanfic/


End file.
